Transportation/distribution businesses want inexpensive cross-docking capabilities for goods with low material handling complexity, especially for small parcels. A cross-dock is a place where local shippers can exchange custody of goods with regional or national shippers to achieve better transportation economics. Attended, full-service cross-docking facilities, including large bays, material handling equipment, and other services, are generally not needed or used for the small parcel delivery business (e.g., UPS and FedEx).
Self-storage facilities, which are sometimes attended and other times unattended, are often used by small businesses to store inventory. When a small business receives goods from a vendor at a place of business, such as a home or small office, someone has to go to the storage facility and place the goods in a storage room or container. When the small business receives an order from a customer, someone has to go to the storage facility, remove the goods needed to fill the order, and go to a shipper to have the ordered goods shipped.
Businesses and individuals often want to be able to receive and to send packages through shippers without having to be present at the time of delivery or pick-up.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,053 (Porter, Jun. 30, 1998) describes and shows a lockable storage device for containing goods for delivery and pickup and ancillary data storage and communication apparatus that provides access to the storage device only to persons having some form of access code and notifies the owner of the device and shippers when incoming goods have been delivered to the storage device or outgoing goods have been placed in the storage device for pickup. The present invention uses lockable storage devices according to the concepts of the Porter ""053 patent, which is incorporated by reference into the present specification for all purposes.
One object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost unattended cross-docking depot, which can be used by shippers, small businesses and individuals in much the same ways as previously known attended cross-docking facilities and self-storage facilities. Another object is to provide a facility and a method that can be used by businesses and individuals for receipt and storage of goods without requiring them to be present at the time of delivery. Yet another object is to provide a facility and a method that enables businesses and individuals to leave goods for pick-up by a shipper.
The foregoing objects are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by unattended package delivery cross-docking apparatus having a plurality of storage devices, each having a door with a lock that is locked and unlocked in response to codes. A local lock controller is associated with each of the storage devices and includes an input device for inputting an access code that unlocks the lock when it is locked and a transaction code that locks the lock when it is unlocked. A central operations controller in communication with the local lock controllers is programmed to receive the access and transaction codes input to each local lock controller, to create an access code for the lock of each storage device upon receiving a transaction code that locks the lock, and to output a notice of the access code to be used to unlock the lock of each storage device when it is locked.
The apparatus, according to the invention, permits regional and national/international shippers, such as UPS, USPS, DHL and FedEx, to deliver goods to consignees, which may be local shippers, businesses and individuals, who desire to receive incoming goods when they are not physically present to receive them. Similarly, local shippers, businesses and individuals can deposit outgoing goods for pick-up. Among the many benefits of the invention are the cost benefits of permitting self-service for cross-docking and related logistics operations to support package and parcel deliveries and pickups. In addition to reducing labor costs, the apparatus and method according to the invention, improves the security, traceability, and control of logistics operations, enabling highly efficient supply chain operations. The invention may be coupled with other unattended depot applications (such as business-to-consumer depot delivery/pickup applications, or business-to-business ganged bins for office delivery, each described separately below) to create a completely new node in the logistics chain that benefits many constituents.
The apparatus, preferably, includes a secure enclosure containing the plurality of storage devices, an entry door for admitting persons into the enclosure and having a lock that can be unlocked only in response to authorization codes, and an enclosure lock controller in communication with the central operations controller for receiving and storing authorization codes and including an input device for inputting by users of the apparatus of authorization codes to unlock the entry door. A secure enclosure minimizes the possibility of theft.
The central operations controller includes a memory unit for storing data specific to incoming goods including the identification of the specific storage device in which incoming goods have been placed by a shipper for pickup by a consignee and the access code, which was created by the central operations controller when the goods were placed in the storage device, that permits that storage device to be unlocked by the consignee. The central operations controller may be programmed to communicate the data specific to incoming goods to the consignee electronically via a global communications network, such as by a voice message, by fax or by E-mail.
Advantageously, the central operations controller is arranged for input and storage of data specific to incoming goods provided by a shipper prior to delivery of the incoming goods to the apparatus and to provide to the shipper a transaction code for input to a local lock controller. After the shipper places the incoming goods in a storage device, he or she inputs the transaction code on the local lock controller, thus xe2x80x9cnotifyingxe2x80x9d the central operations controller that the incoming goods are ready for pickup by the consignee. The central operations controller is arranged to retrieve and output the data specific to incoming goods provided by a shipper and to create an access code for the incoming shipment in response to the input of the transaction code on the local lock controller associated with the storage device in which the shipper has placed the incoming goods. The consignee is then notified by whatever mode of communication (e.g., telephone, fax, or e-mail) that the consignee has registered with the provider of the apparatus.
In a particular example, the central operations controller is programmed to communicate the data specific to incoming goods, the identity of the specific storage device in which those incoming goods have been placed and the access number to the consignee of such incoming goods electronically via a global communications network.